"Fuck, what happened?" I gasped as Draco and I picked ourselves out of the rubble.

"Someone's blown the fucking castle apart," Draco seethed, grabbing my hand and helping me to my feet. "Shit, Blaire; are you okay?"

His eyes looked down at me in fearful horror and I realised my entire body was shaking. I scolded myself, desperate to snap out of it; I didn't have time to go into fucking shock.

"I'm fine," I said dismissively, looking around and trying to work out what was going on despite the sudden fuzziness inside my head.

There was no sign of the golden trio, and distant wails could be heard from up ahead.

"Shit," Draco repeated as the screams got louder and more blasts started issuing from overhead, "we need to get out of here; neither of us have wands."

But I didn't respond, too distracted by the noise up ahead; a howling sound, not unlike a wounded animal. I wondered what could possibly cause someone to make a noise like that. A sudden coldness trickled down my spine as realisation hit me. Death.

And despite not knowing who had died or who was suffering the pain from it; the continuing howl caused me to experience a gut wrenching twist behind my navel which left me feeling momentarily winded.

Fingers circled gently around my wrist. "Blaire?" Draco murmured softly, frowning down at me. "Did you hear me? We can't stay here."

Snapping myself out it, I nodded; and allowed him to guide us along the now dilapidated corridor, trying to ignore the dreadful feeling taking over inside of me.

We tripped and stumbled our way across the rubble until we reached the end; Draco carefully peering his head around the corner.

"Damn," he cursed, looking back at me as a spasm of fear flitted across his face. "Death Eaters everywhere. Stay close to me," he ordered, sounding fierce and unafraid; yet clammy and trembling fingers giving away his fear. "They might not attack if they recognise me as one of them."

We pressed ourselves against the wall as much as we could, with Draco leading the way; the both of us furtively looking around for straying jets of wand light.

I felt like a walking target and I hated having no means of defence. Amazingly, however, we managed to make our way along without anyone even seeming to acknowledge us; all of them too involved in their own duels.

It was, however, not the Death Eaters we needed to worry about.

No; it was the fucking spiders.

"RUN!" Draco shouted as eight long hairy legs attached to a huge bulbous body came crashing through a window right next to us.

It seemed to target us immediately; scuttling down the corridor in the wake of our path, it's many blinking eyes looking hungry for meat.

We pelted onwards as fast as we could but we were no match for its many legs which carried it forward a lot faster than we could ever run.

A scream of pure terror stuck in my throat as a thick hairy leg suddenly clamped around my middle, my hand wrenched from Draco's as I was lifted up off my feet into the air, towards a mouthful of dripping fangs.

Shit, I was going to end my life as fucking spider food.

I heard Draco bellow my name over and over again and my last thought before I closed my eyes was how horrible this was going to be for him.

"STUPEFY!"

I could have wept with relief as I was released from the spider's clamp, but I made an 'oof' sound instead as I painfully smacked facedown onto the cold hard castle floor.

"Blimey," chuckled a very familiar voice as a hand reached down under my armpit to help scoop me up. "Can't leave you anywhere, can I, B?"

"Nev!" I choked, shakily steadying myself on my feet before throwing my arms around his neck.

"Easy," he chortled, placing his hands on my shoulders and pulling back to look me up and down properly. "You had quite the fall there. Are you okay? All limbs still intact?"

"I think so," I said, my lips tugging into a weak smile. "Although I'm pretty sure I'm just running on adrenaline now."

"I think we all are," Neville winked, blood trickling down the side of his face from a large open gash above his eye.

"Thanks, man," Draco said hoarsely, patting Neville's shoulder as he breathlessly joined us, his face a picture of utter relief. "I owe you everything."

"No worries," Neville said, letting go of me to return Draco's shoulder pat, "but shit, you two ain't gonna survive this without wands. We need to get you both somewhere safe."

Draco quickly pulled me to him, whispering furtively that he loved me before the three of us set off down the rest of the corridor, dodging hexes and obstacles along the way with the help of Neville's skilful reflexes.

We had barely got far when a small voice halted us in our tracks.

"Help me."

"Did you hear that?" I asked as we all looked around, wondering where it had come from.

"Help...please."

"Shit." Draco hissed as he suddenly dove down to a huge pile of fallen masonry and immediately started clawing it aside.

And then I saw it. A hand. Slightly smaller than mine, covered in dust and dirt as it stuck out from underneath the rubble.

Neville and I both immediately helped, calling our reassurances to the trapped person as we attempted to dig them out.

It took me a second to recognise him. Because he looked different without his camera glued to his face.

"Colin," I breathed, kneeling down beside him as I gently brushed the debris from his closed eyes.

When he opened them, they stared up at me; pale and bloodshot. "Thank you," he said weakly, "I-I didn't want to be on my own."

My heart was beating at an odd pace as I tried to think of a reassuring response, already somehow knowing that this boy didn't have long left in the world.

"Hey, as if someone as cool as you could ever be short of company," I grinned, grasping his hand in mine. "I'm Blaire, by the way."

"I know," he answered hoarsely through dangerously shallow breaths, "they c-call you the Slytherin Princ...ess."

Despite never having had a conversation with this boy in my life, I found myself blinking back tears as I felt his fingers feebly squeeze mine.

"I can hear more duellers advancing up ahead," Neville warned above me. "We need to get out of the way. Now."

"Don't- don't leave me!" Colin wheezed as his breaths grew panicked.

"Don't worry buddy," Draco said, already scooping his arms under his shoulders ready to lift him. "You're coming with us."

He nodded at me to take the legs, and between us, we carefully hoisted him up as a small groan of pain passed Colin's lips.

"Come on," Neville beckoned, his wand raised as he led us further down the corridor, searching until he found a hidden alcove behind a tapestry.

There was just enough room inside to carefully lay Colin across the floor as Draco and I crouched down beside him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

"Here," Draco muttered, shrugging his jacket off and tucking it underneath Colin's head as I covered my robes across his torso like a blanket.

"We should be safe for the time being," Neville said, making the sure the tapestry was hiding us sufficiently from view as it dropped down around us. "But with just one wand between us, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold off any attackers."

"T-take mine," Colin rasped, "it's in my p-pocket."

Draco immediately fumbled around and retrieved it whilst I grasped Colin's hand again and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you," Draco said sincerely as he repositioned himself by the tapestry; Colin's wand aloft in his grasp.

"You're very brave," I said, looking down at Colin, whose eyes looked suddenly so very heavy as he fought to keep them open, "to stay and fight, I mean."

"Mum is going to k-kill me," he said; a trace of amusement in his voice as his face creased up weakly in smile.

"Nah," I replied, ignoring the lump in my throat as my vision blurred; tears swimming before my eyes. "Your mum is gonna be so proud of you. I promise."

"Yeah," Neville agreed, chuckling sadly, "a true Gryffindor is our Col; I always said. Best house there is."

I glanced up at Draco who hadn't been able to disguise the furious indignation from his face; but this time, at least, he chose not to say anything.

"I always liked green, though," Colin murmured as his eyes twinkled up at me.

"Yeah, I suppose green isn't that bad," Neville said, giving Draco a wicked grin. "Even if it hasn't always agreed with me."

Draco bristled slightly, clearly uncomfortable with this conversation.

Colin and I exchanged an amused look and I leant down to whisper conspiratorially in his ear. "Drac's a Gryffindor lover really, despite having a funny way of showing it."

"I am not a-" Draco began furiously, but stopped himself as he caught the pointed look upon my face. "Okay, fine," he gritted." I guess they're not all bad, then. Present company included."

"From you, mate, I'll take that as a declaration of your undying love." Neville chuckled, leaning across to give Draco a hearty pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, well, you've been a good and loyal friend to Blaire," Draco muttered, his pale cheeks colouring slightly. "And I'll always respect you for that."

I felt suddenly overcome with emotion as a profound silence fell amongst our small group; the awfulness of our situation not lost on any of us as sad, bittersweet looks were passed.

And, as the noise of the deadly battle continued on around us, we remained hidden in our little alcove as I talked gently to Colin, sharing happy little anecdotes to try and distract him from his pain.

But even as his eyes began to close more frequently and for longer periods at a time, I never let go of his hand once, never stopped talking to him or reassuring him that he was not alone.

And then, just as the sounds of the battle finally died away, Colin whispered, "I think it's over now," and closed his eyes for the very last time.

******